Saturday, May 31, 2008

Yesterday when we went on our trip to the 99 cent store Rebekah says to me (after picking up a rosary candle).....

"MOMMY!!!!! (with excitement in her voice) I just found a candle with Jesus on it and, know what!? It smelled just... like... Jesus!"

How does one respond to that?

All I said was... " WOW! Bekah, I bet Jesus smells wonderful."

Then on the way home...... Rebekah was talking non stop! She was saying things just for a laugh and was starting to get carried away with her silliness. After cautioning her and telling her that she was going a little overboard..... her response was.....

"WELL MOMMY! (with conviction in her tone) God wants me to be happy! And He wants us all to be happy so you have to smile MOMMY! " ( she then repeated this "sermon-et " several times)

How does one respond to that?

Lately I seem to find myself often in conflict. The conflict is between laughing at humorous reasoning from my daughter and also realizing that their are lessons that need to be learned and I can't just laugh and say...."you're silly" to everything she says. There has to be some correction that takes place. Yesterday, I don't think Rebekah stopped talking from the time she woke up until the time she fell asleep at 9:30 last night. She was a constant chatter box and when she is in a mood like that, there is no telling what theologies she will come up with. All I can say is "Lord give me the words to respond to my little philosopher."

Friday, May 30, 2008

I am always up for a good deal! Aren't we all? Being one who is always excited to share a bargain I thought I would let you in on a couple things that made me a happy consumer today..... One thing the girls and I enjoy doing is going to the 99cent store.We find quite a few little treasures there and Bekah especially likes it because Mommy can be quite "generous" when things are only 99 cents. :) Coming home with bags of buttons and yummy candles was too fun to pass up. And some yummy "carnival flavored skittles" made for sticky smiles with my girls. :)

No, we did not get the fixings for a pork roast at the 99 cent store but I had to show you a picture. We had a MARVELOUS dinner tonight ,thanks to Dream Dinners. (you may remember I posted about that a couple of weeks ago.) Tonight I pulled out the Apricot Pork Roast and both of my girls LOVED it, Josh and I both said it was the best pork we have ever had! I love a successful meal! I ended up calling Dream Dinners to see if I could come make 2 more of these! :) YUM!

And the picture below has nothing to with being a consumer......

This is something that makes me smile everyday. :) Anna is in a great phase right now and is really starting to communicate and emulate.Anything we are doing she wants to do it..... anywhere her sister is she wants to be there too. She keeps us laughing and I could spend hours just watching her move about. Her mind is constantly going and as a result she keeps us CONSTANTLY going! :) ahhh Good times.....

While I love a good bargain..... nothing compares to what is priceless........ ( ok it's a cheesy end, but I had to tie it all together :) )

Thursday, May 29, 2008

WHAT??????????!!!!!!!!!!! I am sure that by the title of this post you are perplexed as to what I could possibly be writing about...... well it is simple..... This post is all about problem solving, all about simple solutions, all about peaceful afternoons, all about rested children and all about a happy mommy! :)

My girls share a room and it works out wonderfully..... (for the most part.) Up until a couple months ago, Anna has taken a morning and an afternoon nap. Usually by her second nap (around 2:00) Rebekah would be ready for a little siesta as well and they would nap together.( I know this sounds like a fantasy, but it's true.) Thus has been the situation for the last year. I know I am living in a utopia to think that this would work forever, alas my dream world came to a halt when Anna simply STOPPED taking morning naps! She now is ready for a nap around 12 and 4- year- old, Rebekah is still wide awake. To save all the details, I will just say that NO-ONE was getting a nap! They needed to be separated. So I sought a solution. What would work? ....... I thought of Rebekah "resting" in my room, however, my room is the mecca of our house. I do EVERYTHING in there from emails to laundry and I couldn't deal with losing that for 2 hours a day. What about Bekah laying on the couch during "quiet time"..... again not the best solution as she is easily entertained and distracted and finds the living room to be somewhat of an imaginary playground. No! There had to be a better way! ( This is a lot of drama..... considering the outcome...... I digress...................)

So anyways....... with the exception of the bathrooms and kitchen there is only one other room in our house to use for Mommy's........ I mean REBEKAH'S rest time. We have used our 3rd bedroom as a playroom and it has been wonderful to just shut the door on toys and chaos. I decided a FUTON was the solution! Yes! So I looked online to confirm that what I had pictured in my mind does, indeed, exist. I wanted a "chair futon"- one that folds out into a twin size bed. Little did I realize that they are the same price as some cars....... as we looked I kept thinking to myself............ AREN'T these the things that you see in garages, AREN'T these the things that bachelors use as their all-purpose furniture? Why are they so pricey? Alas after a full day of futon hunting we resolved ourselves to finding a different solution......... that is until this last Sunday. As we were on our way to church a local furniture store was having a sidewalk sale............ as we drove by ( @45 mph) I saw a glimpse of what looked like.................. a......... FUTON!!!!!!!!!!

We pulled over..... of course........ and ended up scoring a wonderful deal on a FUTON CHAIR! Perfect!

So all this is to say.......................... get ready!

For the past 3 days my girls have BOTH taken.........

3 HOUR NAPS!!!!!!!!!!!!!

This is what a FOUR year old taking a peaceful nap looks like! :)

What a long way to say............... "We got a futon! The girls are napping once again and mommy could not be happier with her afternoons of PEACE.:)"

Monday, May 26, 2008

Anna was hammin it up for the camera today! I got a lot of wonderful shots of "little miss sunshine."

Dixie, my parents daschund is very clued into the fact that Anna is the easiest target for free handouts.

Cute girls.....

This wagon has provided hours of entertainment for two generations of our family. A couple of years ago we (the kids) had it refurbished for my parents as a Christmas gift. So the wagon continues to bring joy and makes for classic pictures.

My girls could spend all day being pulled in the wagon by Grandpa.

Although we had a lot of fabulous food today, Anna's favorite dish of choice was the swirls of Redi Whip on her fingers and hands.......

(This is only allowed at Grandpa and Grandma's house.)

For reasons only this picture can explain......

Sweet strawberries always make for sweet smiles.

Why is it.... that sticky messes just don't seem to bother Great Aunts and Grandmas ? ( Anna with Aunt Becky)

My brother Nathan making a serious move.....

and here he is in a more "un-serious" pose.

I think Miss Bekah has been hanging out a little too much with Uncle Nate. :)

A special "Thank You" to the men and women who have and continue to serve in our nation's armed forces... we owe these brave Americans an enormous debt of gratitude and especially to those who have given their lives to protect our freedom. May we never forget and ALWAYS REMEMBER the great price that has been paid so that we may be FREE.

Sunday, May 25, 2008

Our very good friend Kate recently turned 3 and today was the big celebration! To everyone's amazement Kate had a very special guest attend her party......

Rebekah was in complete shock when she saw "Princess Ariel" suddenly in her presence.

We never knew the many talents that the "Little Mermaid" possessed. She can sing, tell stories, do magic, paint faces and make balloon animals. She evidently did very well at Mermaid College. :)

Getting your face painted is serious business.Anna was quite excited to take a turn at getting her face painted and it wasn't a surprise at all that Bekah was soaking up every glorious "princess minute."

This is what amazement looks like.......

Anna..... of course.... trying to be a "big kid." I have to admit...... she is getting closer and closer. :(

Here is Bekah with the "BIRTHDAY GIRL". Happy birthday Kate! We had a fabulous time at your party! It was definitely an event "fit for a princess."

Yesterday was all about quality time. We try to make it a point to take our girls out on "special dates". As Anna is kind of oblivious to the concept, at this point, it is more for Rebekah's benefit that we do this. Going out on "dates" with daddy is one of her favorite pastimes and she can talk of nothing else days before the scheduled outing and for days after. So yesterday afternoon Josh took Bekah on a special "pizza date" and I took Anna to get a hair cut....

Poor Anna kind of got the raw end of the deal......

Bekah and Daddy went bike riding at the park and then got pizza and Jamba Juice (Bekah's all time favorite) and brought it back to another park for a picnic. After yesterday and looking at these pictures we decided that Rebekah's next "BIG" gift will be a "big girl" bike. She seems to be outgrowing the tricycle. :(

Both of my girls love spending time with their number one guy....... and of course...... I can't blame them.

While Bekah and Daddy were enjoying time outdoors, Anna and Mommy were on the other side of town getting...

"beautified". :)

(This is the before shot......)

She always has a look as though she is skeptical of what lies ahead.

Anna is somewhat of a mystery to me..... even as her mother I find myself often thinking....... "I wonder what is going on in that little head."

In this picture I can just see she is thinking.......

"Really!? Are these clips necessary....?"

I will say that this hair cut was pleasant in comparison to the 1st haircut. She didn't cry and she sat extremely still...... her face displayed annoyance and showed clearly that she was merely tolerating the cut but in NO WAY enjoyingit.

Also thinking......

"First the clips and now a blow dry? I'm 17 months! Is this REALLY needed?"

All is good in the end when she has "blankie" and candy in hand. :)

Ahhhh..... life's little comforts.

To complete our "Date Day" mommy and daddy got to go out for a night together. After a yummy dinner at Lucille's we then went and saw Prince Caspian. We both loved the dinner, really liked the movie and especially enjoyed spending some time with just us two.

Sometimes you just need to make it a point to get out and go on a "date." :)

Saturday, May 24, 2008

When hearing about the death of Steven Curtis Chapman's youngest daughter Maria, just 5 years old, my heart broke. What a tragic loss for the Chapman family.I am never able to wrap my mind about the death of children. With little girls of my own I cannot even imagine the depth of grief a parent faces when they lose a child.

I recently discovered this song by Steven Curtis Chapman and it speaks LOUDLY as to how he felt about his precious little girls.

As hard as it is to understand and even accept we have been given our children for only just a moment.....

Help us make the most of every moment. Help us show them that their hearts are treasured and that they are truly gifts from above. Just like Cinderella they are indeed princesses, they are royalty..... not because of us, Lord, but because they are daughters of THE King. Help us to always make the time to "dance" with our girls. Thank you ,Jesus, for these precious gifts and each moment we have been entrusted with them.

10 years ago I was finishing up my time at BCHS, (doing pretty much exactly what Rachel was doing minus the swing dancing....) And I was dating this guy named Josh..... (wonder whatever happened to him? ;) )

Thursday, May 22, 2008

They are doing some redeveloping of some of our local shopping centers. In one of them they are putting in a couple of restaurants and eatery's that we are excited about. One of the first places to open is a place called pinkberry. Their specialty is frozen yogurt and of course we decided to pick the only cold rainy night in May to go try the frozen treat.

The atmosphere is definitely very trendy......

And, indeed, the frozen yogurt was enjoyed.

We do have to say, however that we left unanimously preferring our Golden Spoon. :) (Slightly cheaper and yummier flavors.) But I am sure we will be making more visits to pinkberry if only for the fun environment.

They get an A+ for presentation! Doesn't it look pretty? The ones with fruit looked exceptionally delish.

After our trip to pinkberry we walked around the new shopping center for a bit. We of course had to take a little peak at what the new little bakery had to offer. Here is a picture of the girls oogling over all the baked goods. It would seem that they are never sick of sugar.

Wednesday, May 21, 2008

Yesterday afternoon and evening we joined the Jacobs and Reeves at where else but the "magic kingdom". It was a day out of the ordinary because the daddies got to come along also. It is so weird to think that we ALL ( men included) went to high school together. We have all known each other for 15 years or longer and now we are carting our children (5 of them between us) through Disneyland.

It blows my mind how fast time has flown, how quickly we have gone from "high school kids" to "all- grown- up", now with families of our own.What a blessing to have long time friends.

Yesterday was our final MOPS for the Spring Semester and on the last day we always have an end- of- the -year "finale"..... you might call it. The best part of the morning was when the kids came in to sing....

Anna is still not old enough to come in and perform but Rebekah is quite thrilled to be a part of any production! Here is a tiny clip of Rebekah as she takes the stage....

This last weekend was Jen's big day and the weekend was nothing short of lightning speed......

After the rehearsal we went to a really cool restaurant in Little Italy, San Diego. YUMMY!

(Pictured Above: Daddy and Anna and Shad, Kate and Ellie)

Then... since we were near one of our favorite places we met up with some of our favorite ladies.....

The San Diego Zoo with cousin Alee, Aunt Becky and Great Grandma.

We were there for just a few hours but it was lots of fun. My girls for some reason feel "at home" amongst the their friends at the zoo.

Two monkeys and an orangutan.

After the zoo I went and met up with Jen and the rest of the bridesmaids for a fun dinner downtown. There was a little drama, when the parking structure we were parked in caught fire. Of course we had to take pictures to document the event. (notice all the emergency vehicles in the background.)

And finally the big wedding day....

Here is Bekah with the bride. Rebekah was in awe of all the festivities. I would often find her just staring at Jen. Her buddy Jake was the ring bearer and she sat in the back mouthing to him.... "Good job Jake!... You stay up there..... ok."

Ahhh..... my little wedding coordinator.

A beautiful bride.

The event was at the Abbey in San Diego. It is a beautiful old church.

My girls were excited to greet mommy after the ceremony.

I love this picture of Anna. In the background Aaron and Jen enjoy their first dance and Anna showed NO shyness in taking a front row seat.

The cake and centerpieces...... Jen did a beautiful job planning out all of the details.

And finally enjoying the cake......

Congratulations Jen and Aaron! May your life together be richly blessed. :)

this is my life...

I am married to Superman and a stay-at-home/homeschooling mom to our 4 crazies.I've been redeemed and am a complete work in progress... learning daily to lean on my Savior. With the blessing of each new day... I am and always will be seeking to... "Remember Jesus."